Are you still using GMAIL, make sure you protect yourself!

After the Gen. Petraeus scandal where the CIA chief was removed from his post when news about his affair was leaked through his Gmail, Gmail users started to become a little worried about security around the popular Google email platform.

It was an eye opener for many Gmail users to see that no matter how much confidence you have in the privacy of your Gmail, by nature email lacks any real privacy protection. Unprotected emails always run the risk of being hacked or intercepted and someone might be able to find out sensitive information about you, your business and your personal affairs.

No matter how many precautions you take, you can be always traced through every single mail you have sent or kept in your draft box. Good news for those who continue to use Google’s Gmail service. You can take a few precautions such as encrypting your Gmail which will give you some privacy against the petty hackers.

Once you encrypt your Gmail with a password, no one else can read it without using the same password. Above that you don’t even need to be a James Bond or a geek to use them.

Plug-ins in your browser to encrypt Gmail

There are hundreds of plug-ins in your favorite browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Chrome and so on. These are the simplest yet most effective ways to encrypt your Gmail. To use them, all you need is to;

Go to the add-ons or plug-ins section of the browser

Search for a Gmail encryption plug-in

Install the plug-in

Restart your browser

Use the plug-in command while writing an email in your Google account or Gmail.

The process is that easy and quick.

Popular plug-ins for different browsers

Among the existing plug-ins, Encrypted Communications and Encipher. It, are the most popular ones for Firefox. These two plug-ins can encrypt your Gmail message with a password and the receiver has to use the same password to translate and read them. If you do not like Firefox and prefer Chrome, you can try the SafeGmail which works well but doesn’t support SSL. It is still a good option since you can use a secret question instead of a password that you will need to send to your partner separately.

If you think installing a plug-in is too complicated for you or you do not feel confident using them, there are some other options for you as well. You may use a third party application such as Enlocked Anywhere, which is a great tool.

For business, we recommend using a proven business email platform. Many of our clients use Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange to ensure reliability for their business email. Google Gmail is great for home users, but businesses who use email as a key communication tool need something more reliable and Microsoft Exchange is the answer.

Our team is here to help you with Google Apps consulting or even migrating your business from Gmail to Microsoft Exchange. Call us today to book a no obligation discussion about your business email options.

However, keep it in mind that no matter how many precautions you take with your Gmail privacy; the security experts can still track you down. So it is always a good idea not to put anything in your Gmail that you don’t want to be out in public.